2Kgs 24-25

Judah Overrun by Enemies
1In his days King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came up; Jehoiakim became his servant for three years; then he turned and rebelled against him.2The Lord sent against him bands of the Chaldeans, bands of the Arameans, bands of the Moabites, and bands of the Ammonites; he sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of the Lord that he spoke by his servants the prophets.3Surely this came upon Judah at the command of the Lord, to remove them out of his sight, for the sins of Manasseh, for all that he had committed,4and also for the innocent blood that he had shed; for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the Lord was not willing to pardon.5Now the rest of the deeds of Jehoiakim, and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Annals of the Kings of Judah?6So Jehoiakim slept with his ancestors; then his son Jehoiachin succeeded him.7The king of Egypt did not come again out of his land, for the king of Babylon had taken over all that belonged to the king of Egypt from the Wadi of Egypt to the River Euphrates.Reign and Captivity of Jehoiachin
8Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he began to reign; he reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Nehushta daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem.9He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, just as his father had done.10At that time the servants of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came up to Jerusalem, and the city was besieged.11King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came to the city, while his servants were besieging it;12King Jehoiachin of Judah gave himself up to the king of Babylon, himself, his mother, his servants, his officers, and his palace officials. The king of Babylon took him prisoner in the eighth year of his reign.Capture of Jerusalem
13He carried off all the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king's house; he cut in pieces all the vessels of gold in the temple of the Lord, which King Solomon of Israel had made, all this as the Lord had foretold.14He carried away all Jerusalem, all the officials, all the warriors, ten thousand captives, all the artisans and the smiths; no one remained, except the poorest people of the land.15He carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon; the king's mother, the king's wives, his officials, and the elite of the land, he took into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon.16The king of Babylon brought captive to Babylon all the men of valor, seven thousand, the artisans and the smiths, one thousand, all of them strong and fit for war.17The king of Babylon made Mattaniah, Jehoiachin's uncle, king in his place, and changed his name to Zedekiah.Zedekiah Reigns over Judah
18Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign; he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.19He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, just as Jehoiakim had done.20Indeed, Jerusalem and Judah so angered the Lord that he expelled them from his presence.
The Fall and Captivity of Judah
Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.Chapter 251And in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came with all his army against Jerusalem, and laid siege to it; they built siegeworks against it all around.2So the city was besieged until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.3On the ninth day of the fourth month the famine became so severe in the city that there was no food for the people of the land.4Then a breach was made in the city wall; the king with all the soldiers fled by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, by the king's garden, though the Chaldeans were all around the city. They went in the direction of the Arabah.5But the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king, and overtook him in the plains of Jericho; all his army was scattered, deserting him.6Then they captured the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah, who passed sentence on him.7They slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, then put out the eyes of Zedekiah; they bound him in fetters and took him to Babylon.8In the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month—which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon—Nebuzaradan, the captain of the bodyguard, a servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem.9He burned the house of the Lord, the king's house, and all the houses of Jerusalem; every great house he burned down.10All the army of the Chaldeans who were with the captain of the guard broke down the walls around Jerusalem.11Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried into exile the rest of the people who were left in the city and the deserters who had defected to the king of Babylon—all the rest of the population.12But the captain of the guard left some of the poorest people of the land to be vinedressers and tillers of the soil.13The bronze pillars that were in the house of the Lord, as well as the stands and the bronze sea that were in the house of the Lord, the Chaldeans broke in pieces, and carried the bronze to Babylon.14They took away the pots, the shovels, the snuffers, the dishes for incense, and all the bronze vessels used in the temple service,15as well as the firepans and the basins. What was made of gold the captain of the guard took away for the gold, and what was made of silver, for the silver.16As for the two pillars, the one sea, and the stands, which Solomon had made for the house of the Lord, the bronze of all these vessels was beyond weighing.17The height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits, and on it was a bronze capital; the height of the capital was three cubits; latticework and pomegranates, all of bronze, were on the capital all around. The second pillar had the same, with the latticework.18The captain of the guard took the chief priest Seraiah, the second priest Zephaniah, and the three guardians of the threshold;19from the city he took an officer who had been in command of the soldiers, and five men of the king's council who were found in the city; the secretary who was the commander of the army who mustered the people of the land; and sixty men of the people of the land who were found in the city.20Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took them, and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah.21The king of Babylon struck them down and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah went into exile out of its land.Gedaliah Made Governor of Judah
22He appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam son of Shaphan as governor over the people who remained in the land of Judah, whom King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had left.23Now when all the captains of the forces and their men heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah as governor, they came with their men to Gedaliah at Mizpah, namely, Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan son of Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah son of the Maacathite.24Gedaliah swore to them and their men, saying, “Do not be afraid because of the Chaldean officials; live in the land, serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you.”25But in the seventh month, Ishmael son of Nethaniah son of Elishama, of the royal family, came with ten men; they struck down Gedaliah so that he died, along with the Judeans and Chaldeans who were with him at Mizpah.26Then all the people, high and low and the captains of the forces set out and went to Egypt; for they were afraid of the Chaldeans.Jehoiachin Released from Prison
27In the thirty-seventh year of the exile of King Jehoiachin of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, King Evil-merodach of Babylon, in the year that he began to reign, released King Jehoiachin of Judah from prison;28he spoke kindly to him, and gave him a seat above the other seats of the kings who were with him in Babylon.29So Jehoiachin put aside his prison clothes. Every day of his life he dined regularly in the king's presence.30For his allowance, a regular allowance was given him by the king, a portion every day, as long as he lived.